2014–15 Eredivisie

The 2014–15 Eredivisie season was the 59th season of the Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. On 18 April 2015, PSV were confirmed as champions of the season, thus ending the four-year reign of Ajax.

Eredivisie

Season	2014–15
Dates	8 August 2014 – 17 May 2015
Champions	PSV (22nd title)
Relegated	NAC Breda Go Ahead Eagles FC Dordrecht
Champions League	PSV Ajax
Europa League	AZ Groningen Go Ahead Eagles Vitesse
Matches played	306
Goals scored	942 (3.08 per match)
Top goalscorer	Memphis Depay (22 goals)
Biggest home win	PSV 6–1 NAC Breda (16 August 2014) Vitesse Arnhem 6–1 ADO Den Haag (3 October 2014) Heracles 6–1 NAC Breda (4 October 2014) Ajax 5–0 Willem II (6 December 2014) PSV 5–0 Go Ahead Eagles (20 December 2014) Utrecht 6–1 Dordrecht (15 February 2015)
Biggest away win	Excelsior 0–5 PEC Zwolle (30 November 2014) Twente 0–5 PSV (4 April 2015)
Highest scoring	NAC Breda 4–5 Groningen (17 May 2015)
Longest winning run	10 games[1] PSV
Longest unbeaten run	17 games[1] PSV
Longest winless run	17 games[1] Dordrecht
Longest losing run	9 games[1] Dordrecht
Highest attendance	52,472[1] Ajax 0–0 Feyenoord (25 January 2015)
Lowest attendance	3,149[1] Excelsior 3–1 Heracles (30 August 2014)
Total attendance	5,727,077[1]
Average attendance	18,715[1]
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

Teams

A total of 18 teams took part in the league: The best fifteen teams from the 2013–14 season, two promotion/relegation playoff winners and the 2013–14 Eerste Divisie champions.

There are three teams that played in the 2013–14 Eerste Divisie that were promoted to the Eredivisie for the 2014–15 season. Willem II returned to the Eredivisie after just one season by winning its first Eerste Divisie title in 49 years. Meanwhile, FC Dordrecht and Excelsior navigated to the promotion/relegation playoffs to reach the Eredivisie, with both clubs having received byes after finishing second and third in the Eerste Divisie. FC Dordrecht swept both legs against VVV-Venlo 5–2 on aggregate in the second round before facing another Eerste Divisie club for a spot in the Eredivisie (after Sparta Rotterdam sent NEC Nijmegen into relegation). FC Dordrecht won 5–3 on aggregate to return to the Eredivisie for the first time in 19 years.^[2]

Excelsior returned after two seasons in the Eerste Divisie by first overcoming FC Den Bosch 5–2 on aggregate before relegating RKC Waalwijk from the league by winning 4–2 on aggregate.^[3]

ADO

Ajax

AZ

Cambuur

Dordrecht

Rotterdam

GA
Eagles

Groningen

Heerenveen

Heracles

NAC

PEC

PSV

Twente

Utrecht

Vitesse

Willem II

Rotterdam teams

Excelsior
Feyenoord

Location of teams in Eredivisie 2014–15

Feyenoord

Excelsior

Rotterdam Eredivisie football clubs

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
ADO Den Haag	The Hague	Kyocera Stadion	15,000
Ajax	Amsterdam	Amsterdam ArenA	53,052
AZ	Alkmaar	AFAS Stadion	17,023
Cambuur	Leeuwarden	Cambuur Stadion	10,250
Dordrecht	Dordrecht	GN Bouw Stadion	4,088
Excelsior	Rotterdam	Stadion Woudestein	3,531
Feyenoord	Rotterdam	De Kuip	51,177
Go Ahead Eagles	Deventer	Adelaarshorst	8,000
Groningen	Groningen	Euroborg	22,550
Heerenveen	Heerenveen	Abe Lenstra Stadion	26,100
Heracles Almelo	Almelo	Polman Stadion	8,500
NAC Breda	Breda	Rat Verlegh Stadion	19,000
PEC Zwolle	Zwolle	IJsseldelta Stadion	12,500
PSV	Eindhoven	Philips Stadion	36,000
Twente	Enschede	De Grolsch Veste	30,205
Utrecht	Utrecht	Stadion Galgenwaard	23,750
Vitesse Arnhem	Arnhem	GelreDome	25,000
Willem II	Tilburg	Koning Willem II Stadion	14,637

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
ADO Den Haag	Henk Fräser	Erreà	Basic-Fit Fitness
Ajax	Frank de Boer	adidas	Ziggo
AZ	John van den Brom	Macron	AFAS software
Cambuur	Henk de Jong	Quick	Bouwgroep Dijkstra Draisma
Dordrecht	Jan Everse	Macron	Riwal
Excelsior	Marinus Dijkhuizen	Masita	DSW Zorgverzekeraar
Feyenoord	Fred Rutten	adidas	Opel
Go Ahead Eagles	Dennis Demmers	hummel	Drukwerkdeal.nl
Groningen	Erwin van de Looi	Masita	Essent
Heerenveen	Dwight Lodeweges	Jako	Univé
Heracles Almelo	John Stegeman	Erima	TenCate
NAC Breda	Robert Maaskant	Umbro	Into Telecom
PEC Zwolle	Ron Jans	Patrick	Compello
PSV	Phillip Cocu	Nike	Philips
Twente	Alfred Schreuder	Nike	XXImo
Utrecht	Rob Alflen	hummel	HealthCity
Vitesse	Peter Bosz	Macron	Truphone
Willem II	Jurgen Streppel	Robey	Tricorp

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Heerenveen	Marco van Basten	End of contract	1 July 2014[4]	Pre-season	Dwight Lodeweges	1 July 2014[5]
AZ	Dick Advocaat	End of contract	1 July 2014[6]		Marco van Basten	1 July 2014[7]
Feyenoord	Ronald Koeman	End of contract	1 July 2014[8]		Fred Rutten	1 July 2014[9]
Utrecht	Jan Wouters	Mutual consent	1 July 2014[10]		Rob Alflen	1 July 2014[11]
Dordrecht	Harry van den Ham	End of contract	1 July 2014[12]		Ernie Brandts	1 July 2014[13]
Heracles Almelo	Jan de Jonge	Sacked	31 August 2014[14]	18th	John Stegeman	17 September 2014[15]
AZ	Marco van Basten	Mutual consent	16 September 2014[16]	12th	John van den Brom	29 September 2014[17]
NAC Breda	Nebojša Gudelj	Sacked	13 October 2014[18]	15th	Eric Hellemons (interim)	14 October 2014[19]
NAC Breda	Eric Hellemons	Sacked	2 January 2015[18]	17th	Robert Maaskant	3 January 2015[19]
Dordrecht	Ernie Brandts	Sacked	19 February 2015[20]	18th	Jan Everse (interim)	10 March 2015
Go Ahead Eagles	Foeke Booy	Sacked	22 March 2015[21]	17th	Dennis Demmers (interim)	22 March 2015
Feyenoord	Fred Rutten	Sacked	17 May 2015[22]	4th	Giovanni van Bronckhorst	17 May 2015

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	PSV (C)	34	29	1	4	92	31	+61	88	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Ajax	34	21	8	5	69	29	+40	71	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	AZ	34	19	5	10	63	56	+7	62	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
4	Feyenoord	34	17	8	9	56	39	+17	59	Qualification for the European competition play-offs
5	Vitesse (O)	34	16	10	8	66	43	+23	58
6	PEC Zwolle	34	16	5	13	59	43	+16	53
7	Heerenveen	34	13	11	10	53	46	+7	50
8	Groningen	34	11	13	10	49	53	−4	46	Qualification for the Europa League group stage[a]
9	Willem II	34	13	7	14	46	50	−4	46
10	Twente[b]	34	13	10	11	56	51	+5	43
11	Utrecht	34	11	8	15	60	62	−2	41
12	Cambuur	34	11	8	15	46	56	−10	41
13	ADO Den Haag	34	9	10	15	44	53	−9	37
14	Heracles	34	11	4	19	47	64	−17	37
15	Excelsior	34	6	14	14	47	63	−16	32
16	NAC Breda (R)	34	6	10	18	36	68	−32	28	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs[c]
17	Go Ahead Eagles (R)	34	7	6	21	29	59	−30	27	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round and for the relegation play-offs[d]
18	Dordrecht (R)	34	4	8	22	24	76	−52	20	Relegation to Eerste Divisie

Source: NUsport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Groningen qualified for the Europa League group stage by winning the 2014–15 KNVB Cup.
2. FC Twente were deducted three points twice since they did not meet the financial standards set by the KNVB.
3. Ten teams, two from the Eredivisie and eight from the Eerste Divisie, played for two spots in the 2015–16 Eredivisie, the remaining eight teams play in the 2015–16 Eerste Divisie.
4. Go Ahead Eagles was awarded a spot in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round because of its Fair Play ranking. They were also relegated to the 2015–16 Eerste Divisie after losing in the second round of the relegation play-offs.

Results

Home \ Away	ADO	AJX	AZ	CAM	DOR	EXC	FEY	GAE	GRO	HEE	HER	NAC	PEC	PSV	TWE	UTR	VIT	WII
ADO Den Haag		1–1	2–3	2–2	2–0	2–2	0–1	1–1	3–0	0–1	1–3	3–2	3–2	2–3	2–0	2–0	1–0	3–2
Ajax	1–0		0–1	3–0	4–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–0	4–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–3	4–2	3–1	4–1	5–0
AZ	3–1	1–3		2–1	2–0	3–3	1–4	2–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	3–2	1–0	2–4	2–2	0–3	1–0	2–0
Cambuur	3–2	2–4	0–2		4–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	0–2	1–2
Dordrecht	0–0	2–1	1–3	0–0		1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–3	0–1	1–2	1–3	0–4	1–3	2–6	0–4
Excelsior	2–3	0–2	1–4	1–1	1–1		2–5	3–2	1–1	3–0	3–1	0–0	0–5	2–3	2–1	2–2	1–3	2–3
Feyenoord	2–1	0–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	3–2		0–1	4–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–2	1–4	1–2
Go Ahead Eagles	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–4		2–3	1–1	1–3	2–0	3–2	0–3	1–3	0–2	0–2	1–0
Groningen	1–1	2–0	2–4	3–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0		1–1	3–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	1–0
Heerenveen	0–0	1–4	5–2	2–2	1–2	2–0	3–1	2–2	3–1		0–1	0–0	4–0	1–0	1–3	3–1	4–1	1–1
Heracles	3–1	0–2	0–3	0–1	1–1	0–3	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–4		6–1	2–0	1–2	1–4	1–1	1–1	1–3
NAC Breda	1–1	2–5	0–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	4–5	0–2	1–3		3–1	0–2	1–1	1–5	0–1	0–0
PEC Zwolle	3–1	1–1	1–1	6–1	4–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	4–2	4–1		3–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	1–0
PSV	1–0	1–3	3–0	4–0	3–0	3–0	4–3	5–0	2–1	4–1	2–0	6–1	3–1		2–0	3–1	2–0	2–1
Twente	2–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	3–0	1–3	0–0	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–5		3–1	1–2	3–2
Utrecht	0–0	1–1	6–2	1–3	6–1	2–2	0–0	2–3	1–0	1–2	2–4	3–4	0–2	1–5	1–0		3–1	2–1
Vitesse Arnhem	6–1	1–0	3–1	2–2	3–0	3–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–1	0–1	2–2	3–3		2–0
Willem II	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–4	2–1	3–0	2–1	0–1	1–3	2–2	1–0	1–4

Source: NUsport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[23]
1	Memphis Depay	PSV	22
2	Luuk de Jong	PSV	20
3	Michael de Leeuw	Groningen	17
	Michiel Kramer	ADO Den Haag
5	Tjaronn Chery	Groningen	15
	Mark Uth	SC Heerenveen
7	Adnane Tighadouini	NAC Breda	14
	Georginio Wijnaldum	PSV
9	Bartholomew Ogbeche	Cambuur	13
	Bertrand Traoré	Vitesse
	Tom van Weert	Excelsior
	Hakim Ziyech	Heerenveen / Twente

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[23]
1	Hakim Ziyech	Heerenveen / Twente	16
2	Jetro Willems	PSV	12
3	Luciano Narsingh	PSV	10
	Mark Uth	Heerenveen
4	Luuk de Jong	PSV	9
	Davy Klaassen	Ajax
6	Roland Alberg	ADO Den Haag	8
	Anwar El Ghazi	Ajax
	Bryan Linssen	Heracles Almelo
	Furdjel Narsingh	Cambuur
	Lasse Schöne	Ajax
	Marko Vejinović	Vitesse Arnhem

Play-offs

European competition

Four teams played for a spot in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

	Semi-finals						Final
	Heerenveen (e)	1	2	3
	Feyenoord	0	2	2
							Heerenveen	2	2	4
							Vitesse Arnhem*	2	5	7
	PEC Zwolle	1	1	2
	Vitesse Arnhem	2	1	3

Key: * = Play-off winners, (a) = Wins because of away goals rule, (e) = Wins after extra time in second leg, (p) = Wins after penalty shoot-out.

Promotion/relegation play-offs

Ten teams, two from the Eredivisie and eight from the Eerste Divisie, played for two spots in the 2015–16 Eredivisie, the remaining eight teams play in the 2015–16 Eerste Divisie.

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Almere City	1	1	2
	De Graafschap (e)	1	2	3
							De Graafschap	1	1	2
							Go Ahead Eagles	0	0	0
													De Graafschap*	0	1	1
													Volendam	0	0	0
							Volendam	2	1	3
							Eindhoven	1	1	2
	Oss	1	0	1
	VVV-Venlo	2	0	2
							VVV-Venlo	0	0	0
							NAC Breda	1	3	4
													NAC Breda	1	1	2
													Roda JC Kerkrade* (a, e)	0	2	2
							Emmen	0	2	2
							Roda JC Kerkrade	1	2	3

Key: * = Play-off winners, (a) = Wins because of away goals rule, (e) = Wins after extra time in second leg, (p) = Wins after penalty shoot-out.